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Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a '71 Bishop Noll Institute alum, gives the commencement address at the school in Hammond in this June 2017 file photo. “I was in a community where I had Greek friends, Polish friends. I had Puerto Rican friends. African-American friends … We were all the same,” said Curiel, who grew up in East Chicago's Harbor section.

Judge Curiel to address MLK observances

Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a '71 Bishop Noll Institute alum, gives the commencement address at the school in Hammond in this June 2017 file photo. “I was in a community where I had Greek friends, Polish friends. I had Puerto Rican friends. African-American friends … We were all the same,” said Curiel, who grew up in East Chicago's Harbor section.

A federal judge born in East Chicago and a motivational speaker from Atlanta are among the featured speakers for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances at two area college campuses.

East Chicago-born Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel will address King’s legacy and vision at Purdue University Northwest on Monday in Westville and Tuesday at the Hammond campus.

At Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Stephon Ferguson, an ordained minister and motivational speaker, will speak Thursday. Ferguson’s presentation is among several King- and Black History Month-related programs at the Gary campus.

“Each year we look forward to these commemorative events that connect PNW with the community and contribute to fulfilling Dr. King’s vision,” said Laura Odom, associate director of the university’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

The youngest of four children born to native Mexicans who became naturalized U.S. citizens, Curiel attended Bishop Noll High School (now Institute) before earning his bachelor’s and law degrees from Indiana University. He was a former assistant U.S. attorney and deputy chief and then chief of California Narcotics Enforcement Division before then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to the State Superior Court in 2006. Under President Barack Obama, Curiel was appointed a U.S. District judge in October 2012.

Curiel gained worldwide attention when President Donald Trump sharply criticized him during the Trump University lawsuit over which Curiel was presiding.

The PNW presentation at the Westville campus Monday is a breakfast program. The Tuesday celebration at the Hammond campus will feature a mid-day reception following Curiel’s address.

King was mortally wounded April 4, 1968, while on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill into law on Nov. 2, 1983. U.S. Rep. Katie Hall, a Gary Democrat, was sponsor of that legislation.

It was not until 17 years later, in 2000, that South Carolina became the last state to sign a bill recognizing the King observance as a paid holiday.

James Wallace, director of the IUN Office for Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs, called the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination “a time for deep reflection. It is important to consider our history, explore how far we have come and recognize how much farther we have to go to realize the ‘dream’ Dr. King spoke of in 1963.”

Ferguson’s presentation is the first event by Wallace’s office in IUN and Ivy Tech Community College's new Arts & Sciences Building. “It’s important that the first message by this office is one of peace and unity,” Wallace noted.

Wallace had long sought Ferguson, the only person authorized by the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta to deliver oratory in King’s style and teach King’s philosophy. That approach, Wallace said, calls upon citizens “to be educated, strive toward unity of the human condition and choose love instead of hate.”

Quoting the late activist-comedian Dick Gregory, Wallace said, “Fifty percent of the people living in the U.S. were not born when King was assassinated. So, when they hear [Ferguson], they’re hearing King for the first time, and that’s very important.”

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MLK-related activities at PNW, IUN

Monday: Celebration breakfast at Purdue University Northwest, Westville campus, 8:30-10 a.m. at James B. Dworkin Student Services and Activities Complex, 1401 S. U.S. 421. Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, will speak.

Tuesday: Celebration with reception at Purdue Northwest, Hammond campus, 10:30 a.m. to noon, Student Union and Library Building, Alumni Hall (third floor), 2233 173rd St. Curiel will again speak, with a reception following his address.

Thursday: Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, in the theater at the Arts & Sciences Building, 3400 Broadway. Stephon Ferguson, an ordained minister and motivational speaker, will address King’s message of nonviolence.

Feb. 8: “The Movement: 50 Years of Love and Struggle in America,” a Black History Month theatrical production, 6 p.m. in the Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium in the IUN Savannah Center.

Feb. 22-25: “The Wiz,” a musical based on The Wizard of Oz, presented in the theater at the IUN Arts & Science Building. Times are 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22-24 and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.

Feb. 27: The documentary film “Triumph: The Untold Story of Perry Wallace,” will be screened at 6 p.m. in the Bergland Auditorium. This movie tells the story of the first African American to play football in the Southeastern Conference in the Deep South in the 1960s.